Robert Belfour

Aside from the fact that he's from Mississippi, retired construction worker Robert Belfour has little in common with Fat Possum Records stalwarts like R.L. Burnside and T-Model Ford. For starters, he's almost a spring chicken at the ripe young age of 60. Also, his brand of the blues is played more often on an acoustic guitar instead of a more typical electric. And unless my ears are playing tricks on me, he almost sounds more accomplished musically than some of his labelmates. Mind you, I don't mean to imply that it comes of like some slickly-produced major label affair - far from it. But perhaps Belfour's blues are bit easier for the uninitiated to digest than some of the truly rough-hewn gut-wrenching creations of his labelmates.